Sony's Smart Contacts Patent Imagines the Future of Sight

The era of smart contacts in your eyes is still a way off but that doesn't mean people aren't already thinking about it, as evidenced by Sony's new smart contacts patent. The pitch? A camera on your eyeball that shoots photos and videos when you blink on purpose.

This tech is nowhere near ready for market, but it does suggest that (the earliest part of) the race is truly on for a set of wearables that would turn astigmatism into an excuse to become a cyborg. A Samsung patent, filed earlier this year, details a photo lens that also projects images onto the eye, for augmented reality. Google's in the game as well, though, with contacts that would monitor diabetics' blood sugar via their tears.

Sony also imagines a display embedded in its lens:

Some other fun notes buried in Sony's description include an image stabilizer, because you'll want to pop these babies in before you go skydiving or go mountain biking; and an assurance that they'll also be workable as soft lenses.

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